Foldable carton



is. A. KAUFMAN FOLDABLE CARTON April 7, 1953 Filed D90. 7, 1949 INVENTOR. E/merfl.

BY I 46, M Y-&M4Z7

l'r'aufman Patentcd Apr. 7, 1953 UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE FOLDABLE CARTON Elmer A; Kaufman, Huntington Woods, Michr,

assi'gnor to Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application December 7, 1949, Serial No. 131,578

V 'a'sheet of any suitable carton stock, scored for foldliig and slotted;

' 2' shows the carton folded with one of its two intelligence 'conveying portions exposed and theother concealed; and v 3 shows the carton "at an intermediate stage in "the process or being folded so that the intelligence-conveying portion in Fig. 2 will be concealed and the portion concealed in Fig. 2 will be exposed.

The carton of the present invention is formed as shown in Fig. 1 from any suitable carton stock. All of the dotted lines indicate scoring to facilitate folding toward the viewer. The carton is formed in one piece comprising a bottom portion In withfour integral side wall portions II, l2, l3 and I4. Two top or cover portions l5 and I6 are each connected along one edge with a respective one of two adjacent ones H and I2 of the side wall portions, and each top portion has connected with it along the opposite edge an extension portion I'I adapted to be folded parallel to the opposite side wall portion and provided with an integral tongue l8 adapted to be folded over to enter a slot l9 cut in the blank between parallel lines adjacent the folding-score between said opposite side wall portion and the bottom portion. The slot I9 may be located on either side of or on the folding-score and is preferably of a length about half of the length of the side wall portion in or adjacent which it is formed. The extension portions [1 are of a length equal to the height of the side walls lll4 or to the distance of the slots H to the nearest edges .of the blanks, whichever is smallest. The portions I8 may be formed with straight side edges and 7 not greater than; the length of the slots IS. The.

portions I8 may be formed in still other ways to provide the desired security against accidental disengagement from the slots 19. In folding theblankto form the carton, either 'pair of opposite side wall portions H and 13 or l 2 and [4 may be first folded perpendicular to the bottom portion, after which the top or cover portion IE or it connected with one of them is folded parallel'to the bottom portion Ill, and its extension portion l! and tongue I8 is folded and inserted into the slot l9 of the folded-up opposite side wall portion l I or l2 as the case may be. Then the same procedure is followed with respect to the remaining opposite side wall portions, the top portion, and the portion I1 and tongue 18 connected to the latter. 7 It will be seen 'that whichever top portion l5 or it is folded into place last will be exposedon the outside of the carton and will cover and conceal the other top portion first folded into place. Thus, without reversing the direction of folding at any place but by merely reversing the order in which the two top portions are brought into place, the outer surface of either top portion may be exposed on the outside of the closed carton while the outer face of the other is concealed. The outer faces of the two top portions l5 and I6 are treated in any suitable manner, such as by imprinting, or writing, to impart the desired intelligence-conveying characteristics to them, so that, thereafter, the intelligence-conveying characteristics of either of them may be alternately exposed and concealed as the order in which such top portions are folded into position is reversed. The improved carton is particularly useful as an outer container for articles, such as rolls of photographic film which the purchaser-user will wish to send, after exposure, to a laboratory for processing, after which the processed film is to be returned to the purchaser. To that end, the name and address of the processinglaboratory, with or without other matter such as indications of contents, handling instructions, postage requirements, etc., may be imprinted on the outer face of one of the cover portions. The other cover portion may have similar matter printed on it with the exception that in place of the name and address of the laboratory, a framed. and/or ruled space may be left in which the purchaser-user may write his name and address. When enclosing the exposedfilm, contained within an inner light-tight container such as a 1 can indicated at 2!] in dotted lines, in the iming stations name and address will be outermost and will conceal the other top portion on which he has written his own name and address. After the processing of the film, an employee of the processing station will re-enclose the processed filim in the same carton for return to the purchaser, but, in doing so, will fold the carton so that the top portion bearing the purchasers name and address is outermost. The improved carton may serve not only for conveying the contained article between the purchaser-user of the article and a processing laboratory but also as an original outer container for the article as distributed by the producer and sold. From the foregoing other uses of the carton will be readily apparent.

It will be noted that, regardless of which of the top portions l or I 6 is outermost and which is innermost when the carton has been closed. both of the tongues i8are engaged in their respective slots l9 and both are simultaneously effectively operative to secure the carton in closed, condition on all sides. Thus, the improved carton of the present invention is more securely closed than if only one or the other tongue and slot securement is operative at a given time, depending upon which cover portion is outermost, or if for any other reason the securement devices are not effective to keep the carton closed on all sides. The improved carton is also capable of repeated re-use.

I claim:

. A carton comprising a blank formed from suitable carton stock and leaving a bottom portion with four connected side wall portions, said blank 7 having slots formed therein between parallel lines adjacent to the lines of connection of two adjacent ones of said side wall portions with I said bottom portion, two top portions connected along one edge of each with the respective ones of the other two sidewall portions, an extension portion connected to each of said top portions at the opposite edge thereof and adapted, when the connected top portion is folded into place, to be folded against'the outer" face of the side wall portion opposite to that towhich said connected top portion joins, and a tongue connected to each of said extension portions and adapted when the connected top and extension portions are folded into place, to enter the slot on or adjacent the line of connection between said last-mentioned side wall portion and said bottom portion, whereby either top portion, upon being last folded into place, will have its outer face exposed to view and will conceal the other top portion while both tongues are releasably engaged in the respective slots and simultaneously operative in securing the carton and closed but readily openable condition on all sides.

ELMER A. KAUFMAN.-

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany Sept. 19, 1929 

